When I began to look at the art of electrolysis as a vocational career, I have run into several controversial marketing and sales issues regarding home systems that do not work as they are supposed to, and what discipline a person must possess to be able to treat themselves efficiently and expertly. I decided to put in my own views on this matters and focus on as many sides as possible to try and encompass all the issues.
Last summer of 2013, I heard about a small, battery-operated gismo called the One Touch Clean and Easy Deluxe Home Electrolysis system. This page explains about what the machine does. As a blind person, I discovered that no where on the manual or web site said that vision is required to use the product. I can say from experience t hat you can feel the areas you are treating. However, because the world consists mainly of light-dependent sighted individuals, it makes sense to use your vision more and pretend that visual deprivation will not make a difference. It does make a difference, because you can pay attention to detail using your tactile and auditory senses.
Another reason why home electrolysis is not recommended is because of lack of skill in the average consumer.
While this may be true in most cases, I believe that if a prospective professional electrologist were to be successful, they must first understand how the treatment works from a technical standpoint, and then develop good and safe operating habits. If they choose, they can treat themselves. However, in our society, self-image and integrity are important than the will to care for others. That’s why people do not have discipline to really learn the procedure. Ignorance and stupidity can make treatment more painful if not done properly. Again, this might be true, but this is because this person is not willing or motivated to taking the time to really do the job well.
Whilst self-treatment is an option, it can pose as a danger to the electrology profession because less people are paying to have it done for them, and the fact that people have more control over their pain threshold than if it were done professionally. Again, I think there needs to be a balance, such as using sensation transmission to bond the client and professional together via use of electrodes on the brain, or using nitrous oxide and oxygen to relax the client during the procedure. I often find myself listening to music and or an audiobook while I undergo the treatment, as it helps me concentrate more on those than on the stinging sensation I get each time. Again, electrologists who are capable of treating themselves are highly encouraged to join the electrology field so that they can pay back in ways money can’t do. Better yet, learn the family of endogenous opioids and learn how to create them naturally.
Five months later, I came across a system called the Vector Professional Electrolysis System Trademark, which uses an unknown load of voltage and current to destroy hair with tweezers and a conductivity gel. Or, at least that’s how it’s supposed to work. However, I’ve been checking on Hair Facts’s hair removal section and things to avoid. I should point out that the information is out of date, as this happened in 2001. A lot has changed since then.
I did some comparison between the Deluxe manual and Vector User Guide.
Here are a few examples.
- Both the One Touch manual and Vector User Guide indicate that the products must be used by people eighteen and older, and to keep away from children.
- The Vector User Guide explains the procedure of how hair removal works using chemical reactions. The One Touch manual does not explain this very clearly.
- The Vector Electrolysis web site indicates that battery-operated devices do not emit the kind of current that is found on professional systems. The One Touch system is battery-operated, and is a whole lot cheaper than the Vector system. Someone once stated that the cheaper the system, the high chances is that it will work than those that are more expensive.
- The One Touch manual references warranty up to a year for any damage. The Vector User Guide does not. The only place I have seen this for the Vector is on the Active Forever site.
- On the Vector Electrolysis web site, there are consistent misspellings of the words then and than, and in a few instances, the word electrologist is written as electrolygist. On their contact form, the letter N is missing in the word functional thereby making it fuctional
- The One Touch manual makes a list of conditions in which a user must not use this product. In the case of the Vector User Guide, the only reference there is to such conditions are heart problems and use of a pacemaker, but everything else has been omitted. This is because the device uses a grounding electrode pad, which the One Touch does not use.
- With any kind of current, it makes sense that the more intense the current is, the less time is required to remove the hair. The Vector User Guide makes note of this, but the One Touch Deluxe system does not, but it does make a vague reference to this.
- The One Touch System emits a five-second tone with several unusual harmonics, indicating that the current is flowing. After five seconds, if the circuit is still complete, it will continue to beep for another five seconds. This is not referenced in the manual. I usually count three five-second beeps before I remove the probe.
- There has not been any clinical trials or scientific publications stating that hair can conduct electricity when applied with the gel. This raises one question. Why? Can scientists not afford to open such a study where professionals and consumers can participate in clinical trials, and if they are as effective as claimed, then they can be safe to use?
- The Vector User Guide recommends that you wax or tweeze hair before the actual treatment itself, as this makes the underlying environment to be highly moist. The One Touch manual does not make such an indication.
- The company that makes the Vector system says that they have a needle, which requires a license to purchase. However, they do not recommend using a needle, as this can increase the risk for infection and also increase the likelihood of a person being shocked.
- A reviewer of this product said that the electric tweezers don’t grasp the hair well, thereby making it nearly impossible to treat, but they believe it worked for them.
- The Vector User Guide makes a note of when to treat hair during which growth phase. The One Touch manual does not.
- All in all, each company is trying to convince you to buy their products to make their own profit, which is common in capitalism.
Having said all that, there is a concern that the public does not clearly know how to distinguish fact from fiction or quackery.
Companies are so good at convincing people in making them believe that their products work well when they have not the proof, other than to make redundant statements throughout their web site. Let’s take this a little further.
As stated above, no scientists have studied these products. All companies had to do was put the United States Food and Drug Administration logo based on junk or sound science. As an alternative, we have become too dependent on the government, and as a conspiracy theorist, I believe the public is ignorant about how to overcome these issues. It is time for newer and more holistic measures to be taken. We should not be suing companies for things that they have no proof over. If you want to see proof, a scientific study must be conducted between a chemist, a physicist and an electrical engineer, along with professional and amateur electrologists to really make sure the product does work for all kinds of skins and hair contrasts. If not, scientists can use genetic modification to close the hair pores and change the skin type. That itself is another matter, as surgical hair removal is not yet being performed except for hair transplants.
In conclusion, I think it is up for the consumer to experiment which systems work well, even though they might be putting themselves at risk for injury. My best advice is to just be smart. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, I’d be glad to address any concerns you may have. I may also update this post if I find more information that might be useful.